MORTGAGE

Canadian home buyers look poised to reap the rewards as U.S.-based mortgage insurance companies bid for a foothold in the hot domestic housing market.

Rising mortgage payments and tighter lending standards for refinancing amid the subprime credit crisis have dried up once-easy access to home equity loans for many middle-income borrowers -- so desperate borrowers are using credit cards to cover basics while trying to keep up with home payments.

Thousands of borrowers are poised to challenge lenders over debt insurance, in what has been hailed a new consumer revolution against mis-selling and unfair charges.

The housing market took a sharp turn for the worse in September as prices tumbled and sales of previously owned homes fell to a record low, battered by rising foreclosures and tighter lending standards.

The housing market took a sharp turn for the worse in September as prices tumbled and sales of previously owned homes fell to a record low, battered by rising foreclosures and tighter lending standards. Sales of existing homes dropped 8 percent to a 5.04 million unit annual pace in September, the lowest on record dating to 1999.

Freddie Mac sharply shrank its holdings of mortgage securities in September and kept the portfolio below a growth limit set by its regulator, the second largest U.S. home funding company said on Wednesday.

Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said Monday it will help customers refinance or modify up to $16 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages through next year.

Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, on Tuesday offered to refinance or restructure up to $16 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages through the end of 2008. The lender said its program may help about 82,000 borrowers who face higher payments stay in their homes.

Mortgage applications rose for a second straight week, largely reflecting a rise in demand for home purchase loans as interest rates held steady, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Lawmakers called on Wednesday for a 'mortgage czar' to help cope with an expected wave of foreclosures from the U.S. housing slump but Alan Greenspan said the credit crunch was past the worst. Fallout from a global credit squeeze, sparked by problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market, have rattled markets in recent weeks, threatening economic growth and bank earnings.

Bear Stearns Cos said on Wednesday it was cutting 310 jobs in its mortgage lending business, making the Wall Street bank the latest to lay off staff as a result of the lingering subprime mortgage crisis.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for a second straight week, largely reflecting a drop in demand for home refinancing loans, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The audacious rise in the Dow industrials to a record will do little to prevent the millions of new "For Sale" signs likely to dot U.S. lawns soon.

The number of American's signing contracts to buy homes dropped to the lowest level ever in August new data shows.

Sherrill Zenie said all she wanted was a piece of the American Dream, but what she got was a kick in the rear.Zenie is one of a legion of a relatively new type of homeowner, a flipper, who sought fast money by rapidly buying and selling homes to capture a profit on each as prices soared.

U.S. home loan applications slumped last week after climbing for three straight weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday, as falling demand for home purchase loans overshadowed a fourth consecutive weekly rise in refinancing requests.

Taxpayers who lose their homes to foreclosure would no longer face an untimely tax bill from the Internal Revenue Service on the unpaid mortgage debt under a bill approved by a U.S. House of Representatives panel on Wednesday.

Nationstar Mortgage, the subprime unit of Fortress Investment Group LLC, said it is no longer accepting new loan applications from brokers, a signal the lender is winding down operations.

Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Monday it expects to modify terms on nearly 25,000 home loans this year to help people avoid foreclosures.

An advocacy group for low-income housing on Monday accused Morgan Stanley of discriminating against minority borrowers seeking mortgages.

Bankruptcy courts would be allowed to alter mortgages written by predatory lenders in moves that could save 600,000 Americans from foreclosure, according to the author of a bill introduced in the U.S. Representatives on Friday.